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LITTLE FOLK’S 
BOOK OF NATURE 













































Little Folk’s 
Book of Nature 


BY 

HIRAM HUNTER 

II 

AUTHOR OF “THE BOOK OF WISDOM” AND 
“THE CHILD’S STORY OF THE BIBLE” 


ILL UST RATED 


NEW YORK 

GEORGE SULLY 6f COMPANY 

c c i °i & a a 






Copyright, 1922 

GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY 


jill Rights Reserved 



© C!. A 6 5 4 8 5 7 


PRINTPn IN U S A 
BY BROOKS & PORTER 
NEW YORK 




MAR -1 



[ 7 ] 


The Fox Terrier 

S EE this jolly little fox terrier. These 
dogs are usually white, but many have 
some tan or black spots. They are 
smooth-coated, and the nose is always black. 
In the old hunting days two fox terriers 
went along with the pack of hounds on a 
fox hunt, that the little dogs might dig out 
the foxes from the holes in the earth. All 
kinds of dogs like human beings, and adapt 
themselves to the human way of living better than any other animals do. 
This sort of dog is one of the best to have for a chum, for they are very 
intelligent. 



The Frog 

H AVE you ever seen this little crea¬ 
ture? If you live near a stream of 
water or a lake, you have heard 
him. He is the little fellow that croaks so 
loudly. You would think to hear him that 
he was big, but he is not. Look at his hind 
legs. You can tell, just by the way that 
they are drawn up, that he leaps instead of 
walking. The bull-frog of Canada and the 
United States leaps several feet. He is the largest of all the frogs and 
may be seven inches long. He croaks the loudest, too. 



The Ox 


D 


ID you ever hear a farmer hollaing “Gee! Haw!” to his yoke of 
oxen? He has to holla at them, and sometimes prod them with 
a stick called a “goad,” for the ox is such a large, heavy beast 
that he moves very slowly. A yoke of 
oxen is harder to drive than a span of plow 
horses would be. Yet for dragging very 
heavy loads through ground that is soft, 
the oxen would be much better than the 
plow horses. Throughout the world oxen 
have been the great helpers of man in clear¬ 
ing forests and dragging away stones, so 
that he might build him a home. 



[ 8 ] 


The Cat 

C OME, Pussy,'” you call, and 

Pussy comes, and purrs with 
content if you stroke her with 
your hand, or mews with delight if she 
sees that you have a saucer of milk for 
her. She likes to lie curled up by the 
fire in the day, purring and sleeping. 
At night she hunts mice and rats, for 
she can see when it is quite dark. She 
has soft fur, which she keeps clean by 
licking with her tongue. Her paws are soft, except when she stretches out 
her claws, which are sharp and long. Many people keep a pet cat. 

The Cow 

B OSSY is standing very still but she 
is looking round to see who is 
milking her. She knows it is not 
her own little calf, and she hopes that 
the milk is for some one’s children, and 
probably it is. The milk that the cows 
in the country give twice a day so gen¬ 
erously is the chief food of the children, 
and in the form of butter, cream, and 
cheese, an important part of the food of grown-up people. Perhaps Bossy 
is just going to say “Moo—oo,” and then go on quietly chewing her cud 
until the milking is finished. 

The Donkey 

D OESN’T he look meek,—all saddled and tied to a tree, ready for 
some child to untie him and ride away on him? He looks stupid, 
too. When you are on his back, he will trot off, steady, patient, 

and sure-footed. Then on a rocky path 
up a step hillside, he will take you more 
safely than a horse can. He pricks up 
his long ears when you speak to him, 
and lays them back against his head, or 
holds them forward, just according to 
what he thinks about what you say to 
him. He does not get easily tired, but 
tmll carry a heavy load and go a long 
distance with it, too. 







[ 9 ] 


The Goat 


and curious, so they cannot be easily kept in pasture, as sheep can. They 
eat almost anything, and their milk is the chief supply for the people of 
many mountainous and desert countries. 

The Sheep 

S EE the little woolly lamb! Perhaps 
this one is grown up now, so it is 
called a sheep. Sheep are raised 
nearly everywhere that man lives, because 
their wool makes the best sort of clothing 
and their flesh is good to eat. From early 
ages a man was held to be wealthy if he 
had large flocks of sheep, because sheep 
were so valuable. Their wool is very thick 
and soft, almost like silk. When they bleat it sounds like “Ba—a—a.” 
The lambs are very frisky and caper merrily about with their mothers. 

Plow Horses 

S EE these sturdy, strong horses, that are drawing a plow. They are 
large and heavy, and can endure a great deal of hard work. Yet 
you must not expect them to have as great speed as a horse that is 

more slender. Strength is their special 
trait. They can haul very heavy loads, 
and are intelligent and faithful, and 
plod along without getting frisky or 
cross. No wonder man thinks them 
among the very best of his animal 
friends, for they do a great deal of 
work for him, and if well-trained, they 
seem to know just when to stop should 
a large rock be in the way of the plow. 





W HAT do you suppose this goat 
is looking for? Perhaps he 

is looking for some more 

rocky, higher mountain than these 

grassy slopes, for he is very active and 
likes to climb and find food among 
rocks. Goats are like sheep in some 

ways, but they have horns and a very 
different disposition. They are restless 






[ 10 ] 


The Robin 

C AN you not almost hear the song that is com¬ 
ing from the throat of this robin? He is an 
old friend, for no bird except the chicken is 
so well known. He looks as if he knew it, and 
were giving us his morning greeting. He often 
stays in the North all the year around, as this one 
must have done, for he is standing in the snow. 

Yet sometimes he goes South for the winter. He 
is about ten inches in length. His black head and 
dull brownish back and wings make his bright 
rusty red breast seem all the prettier. The coloring 
of the female is much duller. Their eggs are an 
odd greenish blue, called “robin’s-egg blue.” 

The Plymouth Rock Fowl 

C LUCK! Cluck!” these two hens 
must be saying, for the roosters 
seem to have disturbed them from 
their nests in the straw. These hens lay 
a good many nice, large brown eggs. These 
are named “Plymouth Rock” because they 
are a good New England breed. This kind 
is called “barred,” because their grayish 
white feathers are crossed, or barred, with 
regular narrow black lines. The upright crown on their heads is called a 
“comb,” and the rolls of skin hanging from their chins are called “wattles.” 

The Durham Cow 

W HAT a broad square body this cow has! Her legs are not very 
long, but she looks strong. She is mixed reddish brown, or dark 
red, with white, in color. The horns are short, and curved in¬ 
ward. That is the kind of horn that is 
called “crumpled,” so this is a cow with a 
crumpled horn. This cow is called a Dur¬ 
ham cow because the people of Durham, 

England, bred it till it became an excellent 
sort. Durham cows give good milk, and 
are good for fattening for the market. 

They are hardy animals, and good-natured. 

Does she not look so? 





[ 113 


The Yellow Perch 

I F YOU are a boy, you will probably go 
fishing. When you throw a line, with 
a hook baited with a worm on the end 
of it, and bring up some hungry yellow 
perch, you will think that you have caught 
a real fish. That will be true. There are 
many kinds of perch in fresh water, and 
this yellow one is very beautiful. From 
above he looks olive-green in color, but his 
sides are a golden yellow, with six or more dark bands running down 
from the back, and he is white underneath. He is about fifteen inches long. 

The Turtle 

T HIS turtle carries his house on his 
back. It is his back. His house 
has a good strong roof. When an 
enemy comes along, the turtle just draws 
his head, four legs, and tail, into his house, 
and the enemy has no way of getting at 
him, for he cannot bite through those walls 
and roof. These turtles live near rivers 
and swamps, some living in the water and 
others on land. This kind lives on land, and has a large head and a 
hooked beak. He snaps at whatever disturbs him, and so is called a “snap¬ 
ping turtle.” 




The Reindeer 

S EE this noble-looking animal! What a kingly, stately look his large 
antlers give him! He is master of the snowy wastes where he lives. 
In the summer he feeds on the grasses of the plains; in the autumn 
he goes to the seacoast and feeds upon the 
seaweed; while in the winter he lives on the 
lichens of the mountain sides. For ages he 
has served the people of the North as a 
horse. His flesh is good food, and his skin 
a warm covering. The reindeer’s hoofs are 
round and short and spreading, so that they 
can travel fast over the snow. Their coats 
are grayish brown and very warm. 



[ 12 ] 


The Red Fox 



catch his scent? His smell 
his hole is near, not all his 


HERE is he going, this beautiful 
red fox, on this winter night? 
He is going to get some food, a 
rabbit or hare perhaps. He seems to see 
something already, for his ears are pricked 
up. See his bushy tail! Foxes are more 
varied and prettier colors than other ani¬ 
mals. What if, to-morrow morning when 
he returns from his hunt, a pack of dogs 
is peculiar, and dogs do not like it. Then, unless 
cunning will prevent him from being caught. 


The Wolf 



D O YOU know that a wolf is a kind of wild 
dog? He is, for they belong to the same 
family. He is about the size of a large 
dog, but has a bushy tail like a fox. Once he ran 
wild over all of the colder countries of the world, 
and was a great enemy to men, for he would kill 
and eat their cattle, their children, and even a 
man himself, if he was alone and without a gun. 
Not that one wolf alone was so bad, but they would 
hunt in packs and surround their prey, and leave 
no chance to escape. Some are almost black, and 
some, pure white. They have a long stride and a 
slinking gait, and watch their prey stealthily. 


The Irish Greyhound 

T HIS Irish greyhound has a little more shaggy coat than his English 
brother, whose coat is quite smooth and has no fringe of long hair 
upon it. Yet both greyhounds are tall, slender creatures, and fine 
hunters of wolves. Notice this dog’s long 
narrow muzzle. His head, too, is slender, 
and in these ways he is himself like a wolf. 
His legs are long and slender, his muscles 
wire-like, his neck long, and his chest deep. 
These facts make it possible for him to run 
at great speed. He is called a greyhound, 
though really a wolfhound, because he is 
almost always gray in color. 



[ 13 ] 


The Irish Terrier 



head and bristling short hair, but 
Of late years he is coming to be a 
active, and very courageous. 


T HIS dog is very up-and-coming, 
just as his tail looks. He is the 
jolliest comrade, as many an 
out-of-doors man has found out. He 
is rather a large dog, and may weigh as 
much as twenty-five pounds. His coat 
is rough and wiry, and is usually red, 
with some black or brown. He looks 
somewhat fierce, with his long narrow 
he is not. He is a good watch-dog. 
great favorite, because he is bright and 


The Pointer 



S EE this fine hound. He is white 
with tan spots, so his master easily 
sees him in the field. This dog 
finds where the game is, by catching the 
scent of it. Then he stands very stiff 
and still, right in his tracks, turning not 
even his eyes away from the spot where 
the game is. His pointed tail sticks 
straight out, on a line with his back. 
Thus he stands till his master comes up, takes aim, and fires at the bird or 
animal. Then the dog leaps into action, and brings the dead game and 
lays it down at his master’s feet. 


The Collie 



H ERE in the hills of Scotland this handsome dog has his home. Day 
and night he tends the large flocks of sheep in the pastures, and 
summer and winter his beautiful thick coat keeps him protected 

from the weather. He has a very good 
mind, for a dog, and tends strictly to 
his work of looking after the sheep, for 
he is a true shepherd dog. He is very 
faithful and loving. How proudly he 
carries himself! He is indeed fine- 
looking, with the long silky hair of his 
white and brown coat and his bushy 
tail which he carries so that the white 
hairs do not sweep the ground. 





[ 14 ] 


The Kan-ga-roo 

H OW do you do, Sir Kan-ga-roo? If 
you measure this creature from the 
tip of his nose to the base of his 
tail, you will find that he is five feet long. 
Then his tail is four feet more. Some stand 
taller than a man, although many are very 
small. They run lightly and easily, holding 
their short forearms close to the body, and 
making very long leaps with their powerful 
hind limbs. The mother carries her little ones in a pouch under her body, 
until they care for themselves. Kan-ga-roos are found only in Aus-tra-li-a. 

The Camel 

D O YOU think this animal looks like 
a ship? “No, of course not,” you 
say. Then why is he called “the 
ship of the desert”? Simply because he can 
travel day after day over the deserts of 
Africa and Asia, heavily laden with goods, 
and go without water for several days, and 
with but little food. Some camels have two 
humps upon their backs instead of one. A 
very speedy kind of camel is called a drom-e-da-ry. He is not handsome, 
but vicious and stupid, yet so useful that the men of the deserts could not 
get along without him. 




The Whale 

S EE him spout! He is blowing the air, in a sort of whitish vapor, 
from his lungs through his one nostril, which is at the top of his 
head. He stays under water perhaps half an hour, then comes to the 
surface and blows. The whale is the very 
largest of all animals. “But he is a fish,” 
you say. He is really an animal that has 
learned to live in the water. There are 
some small whales, but the large kind are 
from fifty to seventy feet long. His mouth 
is very wide, for he lives on small fishes and 
has to eat a whole lot at a time in order to 
get the food so large a body needs. 



[IS] 


The Beaver 



W 


HAT is this pretty little animal 
doing with that piece of wood? 
Already he has stripped off all 
the bark. Perhaps he will use it to 
strengthen the dam the beavers have built 
to keep the water of this pond from getting 
low. Beavers have to build dams, for if 
the water was low, other animals could 
enter their homes, which are holes in the 
See how flat his tail is! He swims in the water a great deal, and 
His coat is soft brown fur under long brown hair. 


banks, 
that is his rudder. 


The Seal 



Y ES, that is where it comes from— 
your mother’s sealskin coat. The 
beautiful soft, plush-like fur grew 
on an animal like this. These seals are 
sometimes called “sea-lions,” because they 
are so big and the males have a tawny mane 
over their shoulders. They have flippers 
instead of legs, the better to swim with. 

When on the ice or on land, the hind flip¬ 
pers are folded up under them, and the fore flippers are turned forward. 
They are about six feet long, and eat fishes, molluscs, crabs, and lobsters. 


The Walrus 


B 


R—R—R! Wouldn’t you be cold, lying on that cake of ice up in 
the Arctic Ocean? Well, these walruses are not. That is what 
they like,—either that, or tumbling about in the freezing water. 

They are real monsters of the sea, but are 
harmless to man. Their long ivory tusks 
are for digging up the clams, mussels, and 
seaweed on the sea-bottom, for those are 
their food. They lie, one resting his great 
flippers on another, in herds of many hun¬ 
dreds over the great ice floes. A walrus 
has no ears on the outside of its head, yet 
it hears. 




[ 16 ] 





Brown Bear 


I F YOU were walking along in the open 
country and should meet a brown bear, 
what would you do ? Would you scream 
and run away? Well, probably the brown 
bear would do the same thing—except the 
screaming. He might growl, but would 
amble off on his huge flat feet. Did you 
think that he would eat you? Not at all. 
He likes vegetables, nuts, and fruits. He 
was once found all over the temperate zones of the world. During the 
cold of winter he goes to sleep, and he stays asleep until the warm spring 
comes. 


The Lion 


H ARK! Hear that loud roar. It is 
the lion, the king of beasts, the 
strongest and fiercest of all wild 
cats. He may be many miles away, lying 
on the sandy bank of some river, waiting 
for an animal to come and drink of the 
water. Then he will spring upon it, kill it 
with one blow of his paw, and eat its body. 

Or he may be roaming over some sandy 
desert in Africa, where his yellow coat, without any markings on it, makes 
him hard to see. The male has a shaggy mane, but the female looks more 
like a cat. 

The Hip-po-pot-a-mus 

W HAT is causing all that commotion in the water? Just a hip- 
po-pot-a-mus, with his great big muzzle, taking a drink. Wait 
till he gets through, lifts up his head, and opens his mouth, and 
then you will think that it was no wonder 
he made a noise, with such a large mouth to 
fill! His lower jaw has two big tusks, with 
which he tears up the reeds and grasses on 
which he lives. He likes the water, and can 
stay submerged and swim; but he goes only 
into shallow water, for he is too big to 
swim very far. He is found in Africa, and 
is only four feet in height, but is twelve 
feet in length. 






[ 17 ] 


The Giraffe 

W HAT with his long legs and long neck this 
animal looks like a high tower. He is 
really the tallest animal, being more than 
three times the height of a tall man; for some 
giraffes are twenty feet tall. He has a long tongue, 
too, and with it he picks one by one the leaves of 
the mimosa and acacia trees to eat. He is tawny 
in color, with the under parts whitish. He lives 
in Africa. There is no other animal at all like 
him. He has two short horns between his ears; 
but these horns, instead of being bare bone, like the 
antlers of a moose, are covered with skin. 

The Leopard 

T HE leopard runs like a monkey up 
the smooth trunks of trees. He lies 
on the branches, waiting for his 
prey, well-hidden because the dark spots on 
his light coat look like tree leaves. When 
an antelope or a deer comes along, the leop¬ 
ard drops down upon it and kills and eats it. 

He is even fiercer than the tiger, though not 
as big, and is silent and stealthy. He lives 
in Africa and Asia. Like the rest of the cat family, he sleeps by day and 
hunts by night. See this leopard crouch like a cat, and lash his tail. You 
can almost hear him snarl. 

The Elephant 

W HAT is the largest of all land animals? The elephant. These 
beasts live in both Asia and Africa. Instead of hands, they have 
a long trunk between their eyes, and at the end of it two projec¬ 
tions which are like a thumb and finger. 
With these they can grasp even small things. 
They have tusks which they use in fighting. 
An elephant stands anywhere from eight to 
twelve feet high. When angry, an elephant 
raises his head and his ears stand out side- 
wise like two sails. If he is charging forward, 
to attack, he gives short, sharp, trumpeting 
screams, and holds 'his trunk high in the air. 







[ 18 ] 


The Bluefish 

T HIS fish lives in warm seas. He is 
caught in great quantities off the 
New England coast. He is usually 
about five pounds in weight, and is blue 
above and white beneath. Although the 
bluefish live largely on menhaden, they like 
all other sorts of fish smaller than them¬ 
selves. They go in schools, and attack any 
fish they meet, for they have terrible appe¬ 
tites. They are active and gamy, jumping higher out of the water, diving 
deeper, and staying under longer than any other fish of their size. 

le American Eagle 

T HIS bird was chosen for our national em¬ 
blem. He is common throughout North 
America, and is strong, powerful, and ma¬ 
jestic. He is also called the bald or the white- 
headed eagle—not that he is bald, for he only 
looks so when, after he is three years old, his head 
and neck become pure white in color. His tail is 
white also, but the rest of him is dusky brown. He 
stands almost three feet high. When he spreads 
his wings, he measures from tip to tip almost eight 
feet. He builds his nest in very high trees, or on 
some rocky mountain top. He flies long distances 
very rapidly. 

The Mack-er-el 

D OES not this fish look familiar to you? He is an old friend. Prob¬ 
ably you have mack-er-el to eat often, because it is one of the chief 
fishes used as food. If you look at one before it is cooked, you will 
see that it is less than two feet long. Alive, 
he is dark blue color along his back, which 
is marked with dark wavy stripes, and is 
white underneath. As he moves his sides 
glisten with shades of gold and blue, purple 
and green. Mack-er-el go north in the spring 
in large numbers, called “schools,” swim¬ 
ming near the surface of the water. Their 
home is the North Atlantic Ocean. 





[ 19 ] 


The Af-ri-can Sea Eagle 

T HE American eagle is a sea eagle, 
but this kind is found around the 
shores of Af-ri-ca. How strange he 
looks with his white head and neck coming 
out of a black body! The top of the back 
and the tail are pure white, too. The 
wings and back are black, and the lower 
part of the body and legs reddish brown. 

He lives near the mouths of rivers and 
shores of lakes, building a large nest in a high tree. He feeds on crabs, 
fishes, and reptiles, and will sometimes seize a young lamb or small animal. 

The Flying Fish 

T HIS fish, which is long and slender, 
has two fins like wings. Probably 
now, when he is in full flight, he is 
as much as three feet above the surface of 
the water. The flight will be, in length, 
from a few feet or rods to an eighth of a 
mile. He lives in the open sea, in the warm 
parts of the oceans of the world. The 
wings do not help to propel him, but just to 
keep him up, like a parachute would, so his flight is really a leap. The 
tail is his motor, and when he is in the water, that is in constant motion. 
In the air he looks like a huge dragonfly. 

The Bat-el-eur Eagle 

O VER the mountains and plains of all Africa 
south of the Sahara Desert soars this ter¬ 
rible-looking bird. His head is large and 
much crested, and his tail is short, so he does look 
rather dumpy, for all he stands two feet high. His 
wings are long and pointed, and he swoops down 
upon his prey like a flash of lightning. He lives 
on snakes, lizards, birds, and small animals. His 
color is amazing. His head, neck, and under parts 
are glossy black; his hind neck, back and tail a 
rich dull red. His wings are mixed black and gray 
and white, while his feet are coral-red. His bill is 
black and very strong, and strangely curved. 





[ 20 ] 


The Kaffir Cat 

O NCE upon a time, long, long ago, in 
a great temple in Egypt, many thou¬ 
sands of cats were kept, for they 
were held to be sacred. So in all that land 
no one dared to injure or kill a cat. They 
were trained to hunt and even to fish. From 
those African cats, called Kaffir cats, came 
our common pussies. These cats were about 
the same size as our cats are, but were a 
mixed yellow and gray in color, with pale stripes on the body, and dark 
stripes on the legs. How soft and sleek this Kaffir pussy looks! 



The Tiger 


dark stripes up and down the sides of his 
body make it hard to see him coming among 
the rushes, and soon he will spring upon 
and kill the live animal he is watching. See 
his paw. He can draw his claws back into 
a sort of sheath, and so when he walks he 
makes no noise, and his claws are kept always sharp. A tiger does not 
roar as much as a lion, but growls and snarls. The tiger is the biggest cat. 

The Civet Cat 

D ID you notice that smell—sort of like musk? Well, this cat gives a 
kind of oil from which a perfume is made that many people in Europe 
used to like. The cat secretes this oil in a little sac under his tail. 

He lives in India and Africa. His body is 
much longer than that of a common cat, but 
his legs are shorter and his nose more 
pointed. He lives on frogs, mice, birds, 
snakes, and lizards. His fur is long and 
silky, and is brownish gray, marked with 
black stripes and blotches, while the tail is 
ringed with black. He prowls by night in 
the open country in search of food. 




L OOK out! This fierce tiger is stealing 
up to his prey through the grass on 
the bank of some river in Asia. The 




[21 ] 


The Magot, or Barbary Ape 



H ELLO! Whom have we here? The 
only kind of monkey that lives in Europe. 
He lives just on the Rock of Gi-bral-tar. 
He is the only one of all the ma-caque monkeys 
that has no tail. He is as large as a good-sized 
dog. The upper parts of the body and the outer 
sides of the limbs are brown with a tinge of yellow; 
but the under parts are yellowish white, while 
the face, hands, and feet are flesh-colored. These 
magots live on pine cones, nuts, figs, melons, and 
vegetables, and play havoc with the gardens of the 
farmers, for they are most mischievous. 


The Guer-e-za Monkey 



D OES not this monkey make you think of an 
old man? It is his mantle of long white 
hair, going down both sides of his back, 
and around his face, making long white side- 
whiskers and a shorter beard. Otherwise he is 
covered with jet black hair of medium length, 
except for a beautiful long plume of white hair on 
the tip of his tail. This monkey lives in the tall¬ 
est trees. He is restless, but, unlike all other 
monkeys, is said to be perfectly silent. He lives 
on fruit, seeds, and insects. He leaps from tree to 
tree over wide spaces. 


The Arabian Baboon 



D O NOT stir, because this baboon is just 
ready to spring, and sometimes, without 
running to get a start at all, they leap six 
or seven feet. He has a face something like that 
of a dog, and is about the size of a pointer. The 
male has a large mane over his neck and shoul¬ 
ders. For many hundreds of years this baboon 
has been known in Egypt, for pictures of it are 
carved on some of the oldest monuments. These 
baboons go in herds, and sometimes those herds 
have from two to three hundred monkeys in them. 
This was one of the animals that the people of 
Egypt held to be sacred, and would not injure. 




[ 22 ] 


The Tan-a-ger 

T HIS scarlet tan-a-ger is very much ex¬ 
cited about something. Perhaps he 
has lost his dull-colored mate, and is 
half-alighting here while he calls his clear 
“Chip-chur!” to her. His black wings and 
tail are outstretched just now, so he looks far 
less gay than he would if he were standing 
still, for his body feathers, both above and 
below, are a bright scarlet. His song is very 
sweet. He builds his nest in some grove of oaks, hickories, or swamp- 
maples, near a stream where there are ferns, whose spores he likes. 



Mead’s Silver-spot Butterfly 

B UTTERFLIES are found in all parts 
of the world, but the most beautiful 
ones are in tropical countries. They 
usually live only one season. Moths and but¬ 
terflies look much alike, but butterflies, when 
at rest, hold their wings erect, while moths 
hold theirs spread out. Butterflies fly mostly 
by day, but the moths by night. This butter¬ 
fly is named for the man who discovered it. 

The silver-spot butterflies are so called because on the under side of their 
wings they have round spots of silver color. This is dull yellow, with brown 
rims to both wings. 



The Skylark 

T HIS bird is standing amid the grasses of the open field. That is 
where he builds his nest, for he very rarely alights on a tree, but 
rests on the ground even at night. He is called a skylark because 
he takes wing from the field straight up into 
the sky, going in spirals out of sight in the 
sunlight. Often he starts his melody of song 
as he does his flight, and so becomes a song 
away up in the air long after you can see him. 
He is not found in America, but in the Old 
World. He is reddish brown on top and 
white beneath. His form is very graceful, 
though his plumage is dull. 



[23 ] 


The Plain Silver-spot Butterfly 



T 


\HIS is the way the under side of a 
butterfly looks. See how the hind 
wings overlap the fore wings. This 
silver-spot butterfly is called plain because 
his spots are not silver at all, but just buff 
color. Yet in other ways he is like the sil¬ 
ver-spot butterflies, so he goes by that name. 
Where the wings join the body he is brown 
or grayish black. Except for that, the fore 
wings are a deep, clear cinnamon-brown but for the upper tips, which are 
buff. The hind wings are reddish brown, with the border clear buff. 


The Blue Jay 

D ID you see that broad band of deep 
blue, flying amid the trees,—bluer 
than the clearest noon-day sky? 

Here he is, alighted now, and beginning his 
harsh scolding, perhaps just to drive other 
birds away so he can have this place for 
his nest. Very beautiful though he is, he 
belongs to the crow family, and his voice is 
harsh like theirs. He is one or two inches 
longer than the robin, and he has a fine crest on his head. His back, wings, 
and tail are bright blue, and his breast a dusky white. See his black collar. 



The Cal-lip-pe Silver-spot Butterfly 

Y OU will meet this butterfly very often in California, if you try to 
make his acquaintance. He is only two or three inches in size, 
with his wings fully stretched out, so you might overlook him if 
you were not careful. Near his body the 
colors of his wings are all mixed together in 
darkness. From a beautiful golden brown 
to buff are the shades. Notice the double 
row of buff spots like a rim around each 
wing. As he is a silver-spot, underneath 
you will find him a pale buff, with the spots 
large and well-silvered. You can see clearly, 
too, the very fine black lines of the veins. 



[ 24 ] 


The Sheep Dog 


W HAT does this dog see, that he 
looks so far away and so very in¬ 
tently? He is looking at his flock 
of sheep, seeing that they are all in safe 
places, and that no one of them has wan¬ 
dered away from the rest. He is also look¬ 
ing far off in every direction to see that no 
wolves nor wild dogs are in sight, for they 
might harm the sheep. This sheep dog is 
not as handsome as his Scotch brother, the collie, but he does his work as 
faithfully, and can always be relied on to follow and find a lost sheep or 
lamb. 



The Toy Ter-ri-er 

T HIS little dog seems as if he had 
just heard his master call him or 
snap his fingers at him, and was in 
doubt where his master was. He is alert, 
ears up, forepaw lifted, because he has not 
quite decided which way to run. He is a 
perfect little doggy of his kind, all white 
except his eyes, the tip of his nose, and his 
claws. He weighs only about five pounds, 
and makes a lively and delightful little plaything. His eyes are very 
bright, and his bark is short and sharp. He is really a lovable dog. 



The St. Bernard Dog 

W HAT is that little thing that is fastened to the neck of this kind¬ 
looking dog? You could never guess, unless you knew where he 
lives. Notice that house there, back of him, all covered with 
snow. And do you not see mountain peaks 
white with snow? High up in the Alps 
Mountains in Switzerland is the home of 
the monks of St. Bernard. There some of 
these kind, strong dogs are kept, and when 
there is a severe snow-storm, they are sent 
out to search for travelers who may have 
lost their way. To the dog’s neck is fast¬ 
ened a flask of wine and some food. 



[ 25 ] 


The Cape Hunting Dog 

Y ES, he is a dog, but he hunts in packs, 
as the wolves do. He is called the 
“Cape” hunting dog because he is 
found only in South Africa near the Cape 
of Good Hope. He is spotted like a hy-e-na, 
but he is no coward. He is fierce and 
wild, even when a captive. When a pack of 
these dogs attack a herd of cattle or sheep 
or antelopes, they do it so quickly that it is 
very difficult to stop them and drive them off. That is why the farmers 
find them almost as bad to deal with as animals that are not dogs at all. 

The Lalandes Dog 

S TRANGE to call him a dog, with 
those ears that are almost as long as 
a donkey’s. This sort of dog is still 
living in South Africa. He looks like a fox, 
though his legs are longer and his tail is 
shorter than those of a fox. These are 
bush dogs; that is, they live under or among 
small bushes. They go about in pairs, and 
though they may watch the hunter for 
hours, it is hard for him to get near them. Their brown and grey fur is 
like that of the fox, and is very thick. They are really wild dogs, though 
not fierce. 




The Roan An-te-lope 

O NCE upon a time an-te-lopes of this kind roamed all over Africa 
south of the Sahara Desert. This one probably stands almost five 
feet high. Is he not a noble-looking creature? He is a real red- 
roan in color, with the front and the sides 
of the face jet-black, and two long tufts of 
w T hite hair under the eyes. The muzzle and 
lower jaw are white. These animals range 
over open plains, never very far from 
water, and in small herds. Their horns are 
their weapons against dogs and other ani¬ 
mals which might attack them. There are 
no deer in Africa, but many an-te-lopes. 



[ 26 ] 


The Lake Trout 

C OME here, you beauty,” many a 
fisherman has said as this gamy 
and beautiful fish swam away with 
the line. There are brook trout, as well as 
lake trout, and they are even prettier than 
these. The color of these is a dark green, 
shading up to silvery, and those round spots 
on his side are orange, sometimes pale and 
sometimes bright. In the cold, fresh waters 
of this land this fish is found. Some of them weigh almost a hundred 
pounds, but most not more than twenty. Big or small, they always strug¬ 
gle against being caught. 

The Water Buck 



The Black Bass 

Y OU will have to be a good fisherman if you land a striped bass, for 
he has ways of fighting that are all his own, and he is game to the 
end. He is found in the waters on both coasts of the United States. 

He is somewhat olive color above, but his 
sides are yellowish silvery, and the upper 
two-thirds of his body has seven straight 
black stripes upon it, running from head to 
tail. He is a large fish, weighing sometimes 
ninety pounds. In the water his sides look 
brassy-tinged. His fins are all pale, and with 
his graceful form and silvery white sheen 
under the other tints, he is a handsome fish. 




S TRONG and stalwart he looks, this 
buck that lives in the large swampy 
plains and lowlands of Africa. And 
he is strong, for often he clambers up steep, 
stony hills, perhaps a mile away from the 
nearest water. He does that with great 
speed, too, for he is very sure-footed, like 
all of the many kinds of an-te-lope. He 
likes the coarse grass and the tall reeds, and 
he wallows in swamps where no one else, man or beast, can go. If he is 
attacked when on land, he will make for the nearest water. 


[ 27 ] 


The Wild Boar 



Y OU would not think it, but these wild boars 
are about three feet tall. Boars, and their 
cousins, the tame pigs, have been found in 
many parts of the world, but always in moist, 
swampy places. They turn up the ground with 
their snouts, in their hunt for the roots which are 
their food. As you see them here, they usually go 
in pairs. These are really wild boars, and their 
two tusks, which are about three inches long, and 
come out of their lower jaw, are the sharp 
weapons with which they fight their foes. Boars 
are so fierce that they often get the better of ani¬ 
mals much larger and wilder than themselves. 


The Salmon 

T HIS fish is so active that it is both 
a fresh-water and a salt-water fish. 
This is how that happens. He is 
born in the quiet sandy pools near the 
sources of rivers, where, of course, the 
water is fresh. Then, when he is some¬ 
what grown, he goes down the river into 
the sea, and there he feeds so well on 
shrimps, crabs, and other shellfish that his 
flesh becomes pink. He returns to the river for the spawning season, then 
to the sea. He is a brownish and silver color with red spots. 



The Red River-hog 

Y OU would think, from the way he looks in this picture, that this 
was a large animal, but he is not. He does not stand much more 
than two feet high. The picture makes him look big so that you 
may see his white mane and the white 
marks around his eyes, on his cheeks, and 
near his ears. Most of him is a brilliant 
reddish brown, with tints of yellow. He is 
by far the most handsome pig found any¬ 
where. Pigs such as he live in large herds 
in the forests and jungles near the river 
banks in West Africa. His tail as well as 
his ears lias a tuft of long hair upon it. 



[ 28 ] 


Or-ping-tons 

P ERHAPS you would be pleased to 
meet Mr. and Mrs. Or-ping-ton. 
These come from a well-known Eng¬ 
lish family of fowl, and are black in color, 
but there are also white and buff fowl of 
the same kind. Their feet and legs, which 
are called “shanks” in fowl, have no feath¬ 
ers on them, as those of the Cochins do. 
All fowls have very small heads in com¬ 
parison with their bodies, and it is true of these, for their bodies are long 
and deep and wide. There are five points in their combs. You can count 
them here. 

The Rhode Island Reds 

F OWL are so different from other birds 
and from animals that one can tell 
them anywhere, so they are called 
just by the name of their kind. These 
Rhode Island Reds are so called because 
they were first bred in Rhode Island, and 
because they are a rich, brilliant red in 
color. Only their tail feathers are different 
from the rest in being black or greenish 
black. Their toes and shanks are yellow, and their combs, faces, and 
wattles are a brighter red even than their feathers. This rooster seems 
very proud of Mrs. R. I. Red. 



Black 



T 


The Dorkings 


HIS Dorking couple are an English pair, and silver-gray. Their 
combs and wattles are a bright red, and the rest of the dark part 
of the rooster is greenish black, and very smooth and glossy. See 
what nice large eyes they both have! His 
neck and body plumage is silvery white, 
while hers has, especially in the cape about 
her neck, a fine black stripe down the middle 
of each feather, so her sides look slaty gray. 
These fowl have larger heads than a great 
many other kinds. The rooster’s comb is 
arched in a circle. Their shanks and toes 
are white, and they have five toes. 



[ 29 ] 


Or-ping-tons 

T HE uniform of these Orpingtons is 
buff in color. That is the same shade, 
you remember, as was a part of the 
uniform of General George Washington’s 
soldiers. The bodies of these fowl are all 
that color. Their comb, face, wattles, and 
ear-lobes are bright red, and shanks and toes 
are white, or pinkish white. Over all their 
feathers there is a rich? golden gloss. The 
lower part of the body in fowls is called the “fluff,” from the downy feathers 
which cover it. Even the fluff in these is buff. These fowl must look very 
pretty out in a green meadow. 

The Sus -sex 

T HIS English rooster and hen seem to 
be having a chat in their (own) 
barnyard. They came from Sus-sex 
County, in England, and are cousins to the 
Dorking fowls. The chief difference be¬ 
tween them is that the Sus-sex fowl have 
only four toes while the Dorkings have five. 

This couple are mottled, the colors being 
reddish brown and white, with some green 
tail feathers among the long white plumes of the rooster, and green stripes 
down the center of the feathers of his cape. The hen’s longest tail feathers 
are also green, while her cape has more of white in it and her wings less 
than those of the rooster. 

The Fav-er-olles 

Y OU are doubtless thinking, as you look at this picture, What is 
the matter with the heads of these fowl? If you should see the 
fowl themselves, you would know that nothing was the matter, but 
that Nature had given them a very nice 
necker-chief to wear under their chins. That 
is, both the rooster and the hen have the 
bunch of soft fluffy feathers, called the 
“beard,” under their beaks, and the same 
kind of feathers standing out on their cheeks, 
and called a “muff.” These are French 
fowl, named for the place where they were 
bred, Fav-er-olle, in the north of France. 




Buff 



[ 30 ] 


The Flying Squirrel 


J UST this moment this squirrel does not seem 
very different from a common squirrel, except 
that his tail is not bushy. Wait till he springs 
from this branch to another some distance off and 
a little lower down, and you will see why he is 
called a “flying” squirrel. He will spread out his 
legs, and so will stretch out, too, a large fold of 
thin skin which goes from his fore feet to his hind 
feet. That will be like a sail, while his tail acts 
as a sort of rudder. So without wings he really 
does succeed in flying, because he sails through the 
air, although he can do so in none but a downward 
direction. Only the birds can fly upward. 



The Wild Ass 

T HOUGH this wild ass looks almost 
like a pony, he is really very wild, 
and lives only on the desert or stony 
plains of Asia and Africa. He looks some¬ 
thing like a zebra in form, but he is plain 
color except for a few dark stripes. These 
asses usually live in families of four or five, 
and not in large herds. They are hard to 
approach, for they are fleet. They eat 
grasses and woody plants, and go long distances by night to get water. No 
one would think that the meek-looking donkey comes from such an active 
animal as this, but he does. 



The Dor-cas Ga-zelle 

T HE Dor-cas Ga-zelle is one of the most elegant of the an-te-lopes, 
and is found in desert regions in Asia and Africa. It is about two 
feet tall at the shoulder, and is fawn-colored, with the inside of 
the legs and under part of the body white, 
and some white markings on the cheeks. 

The horns are long and slender and have 
distinct rings. The ga-zelle is remarkable 
for its great speed, and in running often 
leaps a yard or more from the ground. It 
lives on grass and the tender shoots of 
shrubs and bushes, especially the mi-mo-sa 
tree. Ga-zelles always go in herds. 




[31 ] 


The Leaping 

W HAT a long leap for a small 
creature! Yet notice how long 
his hind legs and tail are. He is 
only about two feet in length,—a little larger 
than a rabbit. This leaping kind is found 
in South Africa. Their fur is rather long 
and soft, and reddish above, with white on 
the under parts. They stay in their burrows 
during the day, and at night go out to hunt 
and feed. When traveling they go as this hare does, leaping like a kan- 
ga-roo, and making great speed, going even faster uphill than down. 

The Ser-val 

S EE this strange animal! Its legs are long, 
like those of a dog; it is spotted like a 
leopard; and it has the head of a cat, except 
for the long ears, which look almost as big as 
those of a rabbit. What is it? Just a large wild 
cat, found in Africa. It is reddish or light tan in 
color, with black spots. Only a chief in the tribes 
of the black men is allowed to wear a mantle made 
from the skins of these cats. It lives on fowls and 
smaller an-te-lopes, and is so very fierce that few 
dogs would like to fight (with) it. It is a sort of 
animal that seems to be midway between a leopard 
and a wild dog. 

The Klip-spring-er 

T HIS small animal is called the “rock-jumper” because it can jump 
like a chamois. It is found in most of the mountain ranges of 
Africa. It is less than two feet tall at the shoulder, but has been 
known to jump across chasms many, many 
times as wide as it is tall. Its hoofs are 
very small, and have a groove in the center 
of them, and so they can climb the side of a 
cliff and cling to footholds where no larger 
hoof could rest. He is now poised on a 
small rock, and looks ready to spring. This 
is a male, for he has two short horns that 
are pointed, like spikes. 




Hare 




[ 32 ] 


The Imperial Moth 

A LL moths and butterflies hatch from 
the egg into a caterpillar; then when 
L the caterpillar has stayed for a time 
rolled up in a white silky shell called a 
“cocoon,” it comes out a moth or a butter¬ 
fly. This moth is one of the largest, being 
four or five inches in size across his wings. 
His body is stout and hairy, and his head 
sunken. He is a bright yellow, with bands 
and specks of purplish brown. He lives on the leaves of hickory, butter¬ 
nut, and other forest trees. In the female the bands are purple. 

The Ce-cro-pi-a Moth 

T his is the very largest of our giant 
silk-worms. “But,” you say, “he is 
not a worm at all. He is a moth.” 
You remember that he has to be a worm be¬ 
fore he can become a moth. The caterpil¬ 
lar feeds on many different kinds of trees, 
—apple, plum, wild cherry, and linden, and 
others. Then he spins the silk cocoon in 
which he hides himself. When he comes 
out, he is a beautiful moth. His wings are dusky brown with a white band 
which has a wide red margin inside a clay-colored border. Each wing has 
a crescent-shaped white spot with red rim. 

The Pro-me-the-a Moth 

Y OU have seen, in winter, a rolled-up leaf with a cocoon inside, have 
you not? Well, that cocoon probably belonged to this moth, be¬ 
cause that is the way he protects himself while he is hatching out. 

Then, instead of being a bluish green cater¬ 
pillar from two to three inches long, he is 
a blackish brown or a reddish brown moth. 
That light line is whitish, and is bordered 
with black. The outer margin is clay-col¬ 
ored, and on each fore wing is a disk-like 
spot. The male and female differ so much 
that you would think them different kinds 
of moths. 





[33 ] 



The Cochin-China Fowl 

HERE are such things as china 
eggs, but this is not the bird 
that lays them, though this fowl 
came from Cochin China, and so is 
called the “Cochin.” This is buff in 
color, that is, a dull yellowish orange. 
These buff Cochins were the very first 
of all buff-colored fowl. They are large 
-— and thickly covered with feathers even 
down to their toes,—all the feathers, it seems, that they could possibly grow. 
This is the hen, and she is really famous as a generous layer of eggs. 



The Duck 


D 


^UCKS, swans, and geese all have 
the same language—they all say 
“Quack! Quack!” They are all 
web-footed, too, and can swim in water. 
When ducks come to walk on land, they 
waddle, because their legs are set far 
back in order to help them swim. The 
male, the drake, has more beautiful 
plumage than the duck. His head and 
neck are a glossy green, his breast a bright chestnut, and his back white, 
while his sides are gray or violet with black and white bands. 


The Geese 

S EE these fine white geese! Their orange-colored bills are about as 
long as their heads. They have all over them an undercoat of soft 
down, and above it their feathers lie so close and thick that they are 

almost water-proof. The male of the 
geese is called a “gander.” When a 
flock marches along after its leader, on 
their way to a pond to swim, they go 
single file. When they are flying in the 
sky, they fly in single file in a V-shaped 
wedge, headed by their leader. They 
always keep good order. You can hear 
their call from the sky both day and 
night when they are going north or 
south. 






[ 34 ] 


Jersey Cow 

T HIS cow is of a very famous sort. 
She is called a “Jersey” cow because 
that kind was bred in the island of 
Jersey, off the coast of England. The milk 
that these cows give in large amounts, is 
very rich, so that the cream and butter 
made from it are of a clear yellow color. 
Like the Durham cow, she has short horns, 
but her body and limbs are more slender 
than those of a Durham. Her hair is short and glossy, and of a reddish 
or fawn color mixed with white; but sometimes it is black or cream color. 

The Sable An-te-lope 

T HIS graceful creature is a pretty red-brown 
color, with white markings on face, neck, 
and breast, and with the under parts white. 

The buck is as black as jet, but with the same white 
markings. His horns are long, and sweep back in 
a bold curve. The skins of these animals are far 
more handsome than those of any deer. The sable 
an-te-lopes range in open forests and grassy, well- 
watered plains, in herds of from ten to twenty. They 
are timid and very fleet, but even so, the kind is 
fast disappearing, because they have been hunted so 
much for their skins. The buck has a slight mane, 
and his tail is tufted. 

The White-belted Cow 

I T is very clear where this cow got her name, but it is not so clear 
where she got her white belt. It must have been from some Holstein 
ancestor, for those cows are usually black and white. Those cattle 
are a remarkable kind, found in Holland 
and in the countries along the shore of the 
North Sea. They are strong and sturdy 
and give very large quantities of milk. See 
the short horns. They are turned inward 
and also downward. She looks as if it were 
near sunset and she were traveling toward 
home for the milking. She has white bands 
also on her two hind feet and her tail. 




The 




[35 ] 



The Moose 

XT I, THERE!” This powerful animal, the 
I I moose, or elk, the giant among deer, looks 
as if he were cornered and were all ready 
to fight. He seems awkward here, because he is 
forced back almost upon his haunches, but usually 
in his native woods he is grand and majestic. See 
the breadth of his antlers. What a blow he could 
strike with them! He lives upon the leaves, twigs, 
and buds of trees. He stands so high that he can 
reach branches several feet up, and he is so strong 
that he can bend down quite large trees to reach 
their buds. He is seven feet high at the shoulder, 
which is a foot taller than the usual tall man. 


The Car-i-bou 


S TRANGE, but this great American 
reindeer has come into some village! 

Perhaps, however, the house you see 
in the picture is some lone camp out in the 
wilds. For the car-i-bou, though large, is 
very wary and shy of human beings, and 
lives in dense forests or remote swamps, the 
mosses and lichens of which he likes. How 
different his horns are from those of the 
moose! These car-i-bou run at great speed. Every spring and fall vast 
herds of from one to two hundred go from one feeding-ground to another. 



The Bison 

T HIS animal is a large and handsome kind of wild ox. They were 
found all over the forests and plains of Europe and North Amer¬ 
ica, but now are very scarce. In spite of their size they are fleet, 
and can gallop and trot with speed. Al¬ 
though their shoulders are large, they are 
not as large as they look, because head, 
neck, and shoulders are covered with a mass 
of long, thick hair. The horns are short 
and curved, and the tail short. When gal¬ 
loping, the bison carries its head close to 
the ground and its tail high in the air. They 
live mainly on grass, but also on tree leaves. 



[ 36 ] 


The Guin-ea Fowl 

T HE strange thing about this fowl 
is that it has a bare head with 
no feathers, but has a bony 
crest or helmet. It is named for the 
country in Africa from which it comes. 

It is slate-colored, and covered all over 
with round white spots. Its cry is a 
very tiresome one, and sounds like 
“Come back! Come back!” When 
wild, they go in large flocks and are difficult to approach. They do not 
fly unless hard-pressed, but run along the ground at great speed. They 
are very quarrelsome and noisy birds. 

The Mi-nor-ca 

T HIS rooster is all black in his 
plumage, but the glossy sheen 
of his feathers gives a green 
tinge to them. Notice his large comb, 
which stands straight up and is a bright 
red. The lobes of his ears are white. 
His legs and toes are shiny black. He 
came from the island of Mi-nor-ca, off 
the coast of Spain, and is the very larg¬ 
est of the fowls from that part of the world. He carries his head high, 
and his tail somewhat spread out, so his general bearing is graceful and 
rather commanding. 




The Turkey 


W HAT bird is it which says, “Gobble, gobble!” and then on some 
holiday gets all “gobbled up” himself? It is the turkey. See 
him strut around over the grass, his tail, which he usually 
carries hanging down, raised and spread 
like a fan, and his head and neck drawn 
back. If he were near enough, you 
would find that the rolls of flesh in the 
place of his comb and down his neck 
and throat, were much larger than 
usual, and were either bright red or 
purple. He is an American bird. His 
call sounds like “Turk! Turk! Turk!” 




[ 37 ] 


The Thrush 

T HIS brown thrush, or thrash¬ 
er, looks little, but he is an 
inch longer than the robin. 

He is called “thrasher,” because of 
the way in which he twitches and 
thrashes his long tail when feeding 
upon the ground. He is brown 
above, and his wings are darker, 
with two whitish bands upon them. 

His breast and sides are yellowish white with brown spots scattered over 
them. His wonderful song makes him the rival of the mocking bird. 



The Wood-cock 

W HAT a long bill!” you 
will certainly say. Yet 
he needs it, for he lives 
in wooded bogs and marshes, and 
eats grubs and worms which he digs 
out of the soft mud. That bill is 
sensitive as well as long, for he has 
to select his food wholly by the sense 
of touch. He could not see it, hid¬ 
den in the mud, anyway, for his eyes are set in the upper corner of his 
head, so that he can see any enemy that may be coming. 

The Wood Duck 

HIS picture shows just what the wood duck likes—water in which 
to swim, and woods not far away. For the wood duck builds her 
nest in hollow trees, and fl 
The drake is very beautiful. His 
head is a mixed green and purple, 
with a long silky crest hanging down 
the back of it. There are white 
stripes on his head, neck, and 
throat. His back is green and 
black, and his breast is a rich red¬ 
dish brown, the sides a lighter buff 
with dark bars. 















[ 38 ] 


The Humming Bird 

I T IS not that he hums with his throat 
but with his wings that he is called a 
“humming” bird. He is the very 
smallest bird found in America, and is the 
only kind of humming bird found anywhere 
but in hot countries. Without his feathers 
his body is about as big as a bee. His long 
slender bill is for sucking honey out of the 
cups of flowers. His motion is very rapid. 
He does not usually alight while feeding, but keeps up the whirr of his 
wings all the time. He is green above, with breast and throat a brilliant red. 



I 


The Mocking Bird 


F YOU could only hear the song he is 
singing, you would think that nothing 
finer could ever come from a bird 
throat, that is, if it is his own natural song. 

He may be just imitating some of the bird 
notes he hears about him, or other sounds 
of the woods and swamps. His imitations 
are so good they deceive everybody but 
himself. He is about the size of the robin, 
and is gray above, with brown wings and tail tipped with white. His 
throat is white and his breast light gray. Only the thrush has so sweet a song. 



The Parrot 



H EAR him chattering away—this long-tailed 
parrot, with the queer curved beak, the 
bright-colored plumage, and the voice that 
talks like a human being! Yet if you listen, you 
will soon find that he has not the brain of a human 
being, for he does not know the words he says, 
but just imitates the sounds he hears. Parrots live 
in the dense forests of tropical lands, in large 
flocks, and are active from morning till night. 
They are noisy and quarrelsome. Their feathers 
are simpler but almost as brilliant as those of the 
bird of Paradise. They eat soft, pulpy fruits, skill¬ 
fully holding them with one claw. 


[39 ] 


The Fly-catcher 


\HIS bird is called the “fly-catcher” 
because with that ever-open bill of 
his he catches the flies upon which 
he lives, while he is on the wing. Of course, 
he would have to, if he were going to catch 
flies at all, for should he alight beside them, 
they would have plenty of chance to get 
away. This is the crested fly-catcher, and 
he is a little smaller than a robin. He is 
olive above, with his head brown. His throat and breast are gray, his body 
bright yellow, and his tail and wings are rusty red. He eats berries, too. 



The Song Sparrow 

T HE song sparrow is a singer by na¬ 
ture, and cannot keep his songs to 
himself, even when all the other 
birds are silent. He is only as big as a 
sparrow, but he seems to be all song as he 
perches on a bush or tree and bursts forth 
into music. His head is brown, his back 
and wings brownish gray, while underneath 
he is gray, shading almost to white and 
streaked with very dark brown. There is a black spot on his breast. His 
tail is plain grayish brown. He nests on the ground or in a low bush. 



The Bluebird 

L IKE a bit of bright blue sky, dropping down into the orchard, seems 
the bluebird as he returns in March to his northern summer home. 
His back, wings, and tail are blue, while his throat, breast, and 
sides are a reddish brown, changing to 
white beneath. He is about an inch longer 
than the sparrow. He sings a great deal, 
and it is a cheerful song. He and his mate 
make for their old nest in some hollow tree 
or box, and line it with grasses and feathers. 
They live on grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, 
and other pests. Their summer’s work is to 
raise three broods of little ones. 



[ 40 ] 



The Daf-fo-dil 

P URE gold the daf-fo-dils look like to the but¬ 
terflies which come to sip their nectar,—that 
is, if butterflies know anything about color. 
Probably they think much more about the very sweet 
odor, which, rather than the color, has called the 
insects to them. Many butterflies have wings the 
same color as the daf-fo-dils. The jon-quil is not 
very different from the daf-fo-dil, and “as-pho-del” 
is another name, too, for this flower with the deep 
cup and the saucer-like row of petals. “As-pho-del” 
means “a flower not to be surpassed in beauty,” and 
is the name the people of classic times gave to it. 



The Green-cloak Butterfly 

T HE wings of this butterfly are 
almost twice as long as they are 
broad. Because it is so vividly 
colored, we know it is a tropical butter¬ 
fly. Its upper wings are green, but with 
crossbars of yellow with black rims. 

The lower wings are green with some 
black markings, but all splashed and 
striped with orange or red. Even its 
body is marked with yellow or white 
stripes. It flies over the swamps where are the flowers it likes. 



The Car-na-tion 

H AVE you ever seen in a garden a delicate little 
flower called a “pink,” sometimes called a 
“clove pink”? This flower, the car-na-tion, 
is what that little clove pink amounts to after two 
thousand years of cultivation. The flower was 
called “car-na-tion” for its color, which was at first 
only the delicate pinkish tint of flesh. Now there 
are many colors,—white, pink, scarlet, cardinal, and 
even yellow and green. Some kinds still have the 
clove-like fragrance, because of which they were 
first called “clove pinks,” and many kinds are very 
fragrant indeed, though others seem to have no 
perfume. One of the most unusual kinds is a bril¬ 
liant light green, streaked with pencil lines of white, 














[41 ] 


The Painted-lady Butterfly 

I SN’T she gorgeous? This butterfly 
is so beautiful that it seems as if 
Nature alone could not have made 
her, but had to have some help. The 
wings on the outside are a yellowish 
orange mixed with brownish black. 
Then the under side has a different 
marking, with many small eyelike spots 
on the hind wings. This butterfly is 
found in both the temperate zones and 
the tropical parts of the world, so you will have many opportunities to find it. 

The Tiger Lily 

S TRANGE to name so beautiful a thing as 
a lily after a wild animal!” you are doubt¬ 
less thinking; “yet not so strange to name 
a dog or a cat after a wild animal whose coloring 
is similar.” It is for the same reason that this lily 
is called a “tiger” lily—because of its coloring. 

This lily is a reddish orange color and thickly cov¬ 
ered with black spots. The blossoms nod in the 
wind, at the end of a long stem. It came first 
from China, but now is found almost everywhere. 

Probably it has always reminded people of the 
spotted, tawny coat of the tiger. 

The Diana Silver-spot Butterfly 

C TT THAT glorious coloring!” You may well say so, for besides 
this on the top of the wings, on the under side of the hind 
* * wings are the round silver spots. This is the male, and if 

'you saw the female yOu would not be¬ 
lieve that they belonged to the same 
family. For her coloring is blue-black 
with the outer rim of the wings a light 
blue, and the spots blue-black. They 
live on the nectar of flowers. They 
suck it up with their tongue, which is so 
long it is coiled up like a watch-spring, if 
not in use. This butterfly is found in 
the hilly country of the South. 















[ 42 ] 


The Pick-er-el 

T HE word “pick-er-el” means a “little 
pike,” so this is really a small one 
of the pike family of fishes. Its 

body is long and slender and somewhat flat. 

See what a pointed snout he has! His 

mouth is so big that its opening extends 
through half the length of his head. He is 
a greedy eater, living on other fish, frogs, 
snakes, and water rats. Some of the big 
pike are four feet long, but a pick-er-el is usually not more than two feet 
long. He is a fresh-water fish, and is found in the colder lakes and streams. 

The Weakfish 

W HEN the Dutch were catching 
this fish along the North Atlantic 
Coast, they found that the hook 
was very liable to tear the tender mouth of 
the fish, so they called it the “weakfish.” 
It has other names, too. All the way from 
Florida to Nova Scotia it is found, and is 
an excellent food. It is brownish silver 
color on top, with small dark brown spots 
arranged in lines and running downward. You see by the way this fish’s 
tail is curved, that he is just coming up alongside, so you can see him. 




The Butterfish 

■ ^HERE! That fish looks as flat as a pancake!” you will certainly 
say when you see this picture. That is true; he does. See how 
small his mouth is. He is found all along the Atlantic Coast in 
summer, coming and going with the schools 
of mack-er-el. People give him different 
names in different places, such as “dollar 
fish,” “pumpkin-seed,” and “sheepshead,” 
according to what they think he looks like. 

It swims about with the jelly-fish, for under 
their broad bodies the little butterfishes 
seem to find a shelter their mother and 
father cannot give. i 



[43 ] 


The Spanish Mackerel 

I F YOU will compare this picture with 
the other picture of a mackerel, you 
will see that the chief difference seems 
to be in the large spots which are on the 
sides of this fish. These spots are dull 
orange in color, and there is more of a gold 
look to the sides of this fish than of the 
other. These mackerel live in warmer 
waters than the others do. It is very active 
and has a way of leaping from the water. When it falls back, it glides in, 
and does not make a big splash, as the bluefish does. This mackerel always 
brings the highest price in the market. 

The Catfish 

W HY do you suppose this fish was 
called a “catfish”? Yes, you are 
right,—it was because his feelers 
look like the whiskers of a cat. There are 
lots of different kinds of catfish, most of 
them living in fresh water. Large numbers 
are found in warm countries, like South 
America and Africa. They like muddy 
waters, like those of marshes. Then they 
use their feelers instead of their eyes, to find food. Unlike other fish the 
catfish has no scales. Its body is smooth, or else covered with bony plates. 




The Whiting 


A LONG the warmer sandy shores of both the Atlantic and the Pacific 
Oceans is found the whiting, so he is a salt-water fish. He does 
not look very regal, yet he is also called “kingfish.” Notice that 
dark spot at the root of his side fin. That 
spot shows he is a whiting. The under part 
of his body is white, but the back is either 
grayish silvery or blackish. This one, the 
whiting-pout, has a barbel on his chin. Whit¬ 
ings have dark cross-bands running obliquely 
forward and downward. He is another of 
the very hungry and greedy fish, who will eat 
anything that they can get. 



[ 44 ] 


Pug Dog 

T HE pug dog is a kindly little pet. 
He is a distant relative of the 
bull-dog, as his square, blunt 
black face shows. His body is short 
and thick, and his little tail is tightly 
curled up over his back. Some of these 
dogs are black all over, and others are 
fawn-color with black only in the face 
and ears. He is not handsome,—in fact, 
you might as well call him homely,— 
but he has a nice disposition, and so makes a good playmate, for he is 
always intelligent. His full, dark brown eyes have -a gentle look in them. 

The Chow Dog - 

T HE Chow dog has a beautiful 
reddish brown coat, with a tail 
which curls up over his back 
and is like a waving plume. If he should 
open his mouth, and you were near 
enough to see his muzzle and tongue, 
you would find them bluish black. 

These dogs came from China, where 
they are used as sheep dogs. Years 
and years ago some of his ancestors were wolves, and the Spitz dogs are his 
cousins. He is rather sullen and surly for a pet, although he is fine-look¬ 
ing, and faithful, like all sheep dogs. 

The Boston Bulldog 

H E LOOKS quite harmless, does he not? Yet, as a kind of bulldog, 
he is one of the strongest and fiercest fighters among dogs; and, 
as in part a terrier, he is very active. Notice how broad his shoul¬ 
ders are. His upper lip is so short you 
can see his teeth, as you can those of a 
bulldog. These dogs are sometimes 
white and tan in color, as this one is, 
but often they are all white. It is hard 
to make him stop fighting when once he 
has started, so it is best not to pick a 
quarrel with him. He is called the 
“Boston” bulldog because in Boston 
have been bred its best specimens. 




The 







[ 45 ] 



The Zebra 


W HOA! Sh—sh!” did you say to 
this wild-looking but beautiful 
horse? No, you know better 
than that. It is not a horse at all, but a 
zebra. His mane is short and stands up 
straight, and a horse’s is long. His ears 
are longer than those of a horse, and more 
like those of an ass. That is right—he is 
more of an ass than of a horse. Zebras are 
found on the plains and hills of South Africa. They are striped so well 
that, on sandy ground in bright moonlight, they can scarcely be seen. 


The Rhi-noc-e-ros 

H OW ugly he looks! Well, why 
shouldn’t he be ugly? He is the 
next largest land animal to the ele¬ 
phant. These monster beasts are still found 
in both Asia and Africa. They have one 
strong horn coming out of the nose between 
the little eyes, and two tusks on the lower 
jaw, and just these alone would make them 
look ugly. His skin is smooth, and is so 
placed in folds over his body that he looks 
as if he were in a suit of armor, or covered with overlapping shields. 
He loves to wallow in the water. 

The Antelope 




T HE antelope are the most common cattle on the plains of Africa. 
There are many different kinds, and they gather in large herds, 
each herd knowing its own feeding-grounds. Some are very large 
animals and others are quite small, but all 
have great speed. They can even outrun a 
swift horse. At first the antelope were very 
curious, and would come close up to human 
beings. Soon they learned that human 
beings could injure them from a long dis¬ 
tance by firing at them, so now they are 
shy, and will flee at the first sight or sound 
of a man. 





[ 46 ] 


The O-ka-pi 

P ERHAPS you think this animal from 
Africa looks like a freak. He is 
about as large as a good-sized deer, 
and has slender legs like a deer. His legs 
are white; the upper part of his legs and his 
haunches are mixed red and white, and 
striped like those of a zebra. His body is a 
beautiful red like velvet, and his forehead is 
bright red. Yet his cheeks are yellowish 
white. He has two small horns just like those of a giraffe. This does 
sound as if he were a freak, but if he is such, Mother Nature did it. 



The Panther 



Y 


"OU would almost know that this 
great animal was a kind of cat, but 
it would not be well for you to try 
to get near enough to stroke it. A panther 
is the sort of lion that is found in North 
and South America. It is yellow or red¬ 
dish brown in color, with the throat and un¬ 
der parts grayish white. It is sly and cow¬ 
ardly, and drops from the branches of trees 
upon its prey. You would have to watch out for it, if you were going 
through dense forests or rocky mountain gorges in even our own country. 


N 


The Grizzly Bear 


OW, here is a bear for you to avoid, instead of one who avoids 
you. This grizzly is a kind of giant brown bear. He lives on the 
flesh of animals, but if he cannot get that, he will eat nuts and 
acorns. He is found in North America, 
from Mexico to Alaska; so in spite of his 
warm fur, he can live in a hot climate as 
well as in a cold one. This bear strikes a 
terrible blow with his paw. He walks awk¬ 
wardly, but if he catches a whiff of human 
scent, he starts off with a loud “Whoof!” at 
a shambling gallop, and can go fairly fast. 
Though uncouth, he is a skillful fighter. 



[ 47 ] 


The Rock Pigeon 



H ERE is a bird that does not build its nest 
in trees, but in caves and fissures of rocks. 
That is why it is called the “rock” pigeon. 
It is found in the Old World, and is the kind of 
pigeon from which came those so familiar to the 
people of America. His plumage is usually gray, 
with bars of black and white on the wings; and 
the head, neck, and upper breast are a beautiful 
glistening green and purple. Even in ancient times 
people knew and liked this pigeon, because it is so 
loving and gentle with the female and the young. A 
rock pigeon may build his nest in a dove cot, but 
even then finds his own food and is not really tame. 


Game Fowl 



are never really tamed, 
orange-color shading to 


U TT THAT long legs!” you say. The 
better to run away with! For 
* * these game fowl have come from 

the jungle fowl, which got their living in 
the jungle, and saved their lives by fight¬ 
ing with or running away from their ene¬ 
mies, rather than flying away. That is why 
they still have not only long legs and small 
thin bodies, but a fighting disposition, and 
One kind has a bright red back, with the wings 
red, and the body and tail a vivid shining black. 



The Car-ri-er Pigeon 

T HE car-ri-er pigeon was given the wrong 
nickname. He is not used for carrying 
anything, and he cannot go on long flights. 
He is an unusually large gray pigeon, with a long 
neck, and his bill has a fold of skin across it. 
Around each eye there is a circle without feathers. 
His wings and tail have dark gray or black bars 
on them. The “homer” pigeon, or “one that 
goes home,” is the one used for sending messages. 
They are placed in a little metal ring around his 
leg. This bird has one on. When he arrives home, 
some one unfastens the ring and reads the message. 


[ 48 ] 


The Red-breasted Woodpecker 

I N almost all parts of the world 
the “Tap! Tap!” of the wood¬ 
peckers can be heard in the 
forests, as they test out the soft 
places in the trees and search for 
the grubs and insects that may have 
taken refuge there. This red¬ 
breasted woodpecker is the bright¬ 
est-colored of all, and is only a little 
smaller than the robin. The crown and back of his head also is a rosy red. 
He is grayish or brown above, with black and white bars on his wings. 
He flattens himself against the tree, clinging with his claws as he works. 

The Prairie Warbler 

H E is called the “prairie” 
warbler, but this little bird 
prefers the open country 
where there is brush undergrowth, 
—not the really treeless prairies nor 
the woods. They nest in briery 
bushes, and are more shy than some 
of the other warblers. On his back 
between his shoulders are brick-red 
spots. He is brownish or olive-green above, with a yellow line over the 
eye, and a black crescent below it. There is also white, black, yellow, and 
blue in his markings. When a flock are all singing, it is very musical. 

The Bird of Par-a-dise 

D O you not think this bird is all feathers? He certainly looks so, 
and no one could blame him for being vain. He lives in the tropics. 
His body is about the same size as the thrush, but his feathers 

One kind is almost four feet long, 
if you include his tail. The people 
first called him the “bird of the 
gods,” but later the “bird of Par-a- 
dise,” that is, of the home of the 
gods. His tail plumes are a bright, 
glossy golden orange, while his body 
feathers are a rich brown with a 
purple or violet tinge, and yellow, 
green, pink, and red also. 


make him a foot and a half long. 







[49 ] 


The Red-winged Blackbird 

T HIS very social bird seems to be 
having a lively talk with some of his 
friends or family, for in a flock they 
chatter together noisily. He is a beautiful 
blue-black all over, except for a bar of red 
edged with yellow upon his shoulders. This 
blackbird eats the seeds of weeds, the cut¬ 
worms, grubs, and insects that do injury to 
the crops; so if he sometimes eats some 
corn, oats, or rice, he is only taking fair pay for the help he gives the 
farmer. He hangs and twines his nest among the plants in marshy places. 

The Swift 

T HOUGH he is a little smaller than 
the English sparrow, this bird’s 
long wings make him seem bigger. 
He is called “swift” because he is a speedy 
flyer. Sometimes he covers a thousand 
miles in twenty-four hours! He makes his 
nest in hollow trees and chimneys, gluing 
them to the steep walls with a sort of bird’s 
saliva. His tail has sharply pointed and 
very elastic quills on the end, and that, with his sharp claws, makes it pos¬ 
sible for him to cling to walls, for he does not really perch. He is sooty gray. 




The Yellow Bird 

T HIS bird has two names, “yellow bird” and “goldfinch,” and both 
are fitting. In the spring the coat of the male is bright yellow. 
His crown, wings, and tail are black, but plainly marked in white. 

By September he is more like the female,— 
a brownish olive above and yellowish below. 
This bird has such a melodious song that 
he is called the wild canary. He is an inch 
shorter than the sparrow. Flocks of these 
birds are found all over the United States. 
They live on thistle seeds, and the seeds of 
tall, stalky wild flowers. Their lively songs 
in concert are varied, soft, and cheerful. 



[ SO] 


Blood-hound 

W HAT long ears!” you exclaim, 
when you look at this picture. Yet 
it is not so much his long ears 
that make this kind of dog of value, as 
his very keen sense of smell. For in hunting 
he uses that sense mainly. That is why, 
when a person wanders away and gets lost in 
the woods, a pack of blood-hounds are given 
his scent from some old shoe of his, and then 
they follow that scent, even though the trace of it may be days old, and at 
length find the person, going just where he went. These dogs are black and tan. 

The Sec-re-ta-ry Bird 

W HY should this tall, angry-looking bird 
be named a “sec-re-ta-ry” bird? In 
olden days, when sec-re-ta-ries did all 
their writing with quill pens instead of on a type¬ 
writer, they had a habit of laying their quill pen 
over their right ear, to have it handy. So this 
bird, with the queer quill-like feathers hanging 
down the back of his head, reminded people of a 
sec-re-ta-ry, and they called him that. He is large 
and long-legged, and is almost four feet tall. He 
is a pretty blue-gray in color, with some touches 
of black. His home is in South Africa. He lives 
on reptiles and birds. No wonder he looks hostile. 

The Re-triev-er 

H OW beautifully black and shaggy this large dog is! Sometimes a 
dog like this has close black curls all over him. Re-triev-er dogs 
are the most useful dogs in hunting that there are. They bring 
back to the huntsman the dead or wounded 
game that he has shot. That is where they 
get their name,—one who “retrieves,” or 
brings back. Their power to see is very 
great, as well as their sense of smell. Their 
eyes are dark and expressive, so that they 
almost look as if they were talking to you 
with their eyes. In that they are like the 
Newfoundland dog, who is a near relative. 




The 




The Scotch-Ter-ri-er 

T HIS is a funny little dog with a lot 
of good qualities. He has short 
legs, and is covered with shaggy, 
wiry hair. He looks very alert, with his 
tail and ears all standing up straight. He 
is just what he looks,—a good, true, faith¬ 
ful dog, friendly and loving toward his 
master. Some of these dogs are white, and 
others are sandy, or a yellowish gray. You 
if you compare it with the size of his body, 
and good record of being a friend to man. 

Cha-me-le-on 

T HIS strange creature has four legs, although 
it is difficult for you to see the two hind 
ones, for his tail covers them. See how 
his eyes stand out! The one on the other side of 
his head can be looking at something different from 
the thing this one sees. His tail is long like a 
monkey’s, and his feet are like those of a parrot. 

His tongue is very long and spreads out at the 
tip, and is covered with a gluey substance that 
makes it easy for him to pick up an insect with it. 

His body becomes in color the same as anything 
he is resting on. That is his only means of defence 
—that he may be overlooked. 

The Tiger Dog 

W HAT does the coat of this dog make you think of? The coat 
of the large, fierce animal we know as the leopard, which is a 
kind of tiger. That is why this dog is called a tiger dog. Be¬ 
sides being white or grayish with large 
black spots on him, and so looking like a 
tiger, his expression is fierce and forbidding. 
He is a large animal, too, almost the size of 
the Great Dane. His ears are short and 
erect, and his under-jaw strong. He seems 
to have a collar about his neck, and that is 
well, for he needs a master to train him. 
He would be a good dog to defend property. 





notice that his head is large, 
This kind of dog has a long 


The 


[ 52 ] 


The Croc-o-dile 



W HAT an eager, hungry look he 
has! This croc-o-dile is probably 
lying on the sunny bank of the 
Nile River in Africa. This fellow is a sort 
of cousin to the al-li-ga-tor. As he lies 
there, he may measure twenty feet or more. 

He is olive-green in color, spotted with 
black on the head and neck, and his under 
parts are greenish yellow. That is why he 
is so hard to see among the grasses and reeds of the river bank. He steals 
up to his prey, opens his wide jaws and seizes it, then drowns it in the river. 


The Ring-tailed Lemur 



T HIS fox-like animal is a kind of monkey, 
though you would not think it. Yet look 
at his hands and feet. Because his arms 
are longer and more like legs than those of some 
monkeys, he is more apt to go on all fours than 
they are. He is dark gray in color, but his tail is 
ringed with black and white circles. No wonder 
he carries it high and gracefully! He lives on the 
island of Mad-a-gas-car, off the coast of Africa. 
These lemurs are as active as squirrels, and as full 
of play as a family of kittens. They have large 
eyes, and see well at night. They live in trees, and 
their fur is soft and woolly. 


The Hy-e-na 

T HIS animal’s front legs are longer than his hind legs, and that 
makes him look as if he were partly erect. His tail is short and 
there is long coarse hair on his back. His jaws are very strong, 
and with them he can crunch up even large 
bones. For he eats animals that have al¬ 
ready been killed by other beasts. Some¬ 
times, too, he will kill, but he is a coward, 
and just skulks around, instead of fighting. 

-e-nas hunt at night in packs. When they 
howl, it is a loud noise that begins in deep 
tones and ends in high tones, almost like a 
scream. 



[S3] 


The Meer-kat 

T HIS little animal is only a dozen 
inches long and a half dozen inches 
high. It digs its home in the sand. 

They dig several homes in a group, like a 
little village. Early each morning the meer- 
kats come out into the sunlight, and sit in a 
row with their fore paws held up, just like 
dogs begging. Thus they enjoy the light 
and air. They make funny little pets. All 
through South Africa the earth is full of their homes. They feed on 
grubs, insects, and smaller animals, and on the roots and bulbs they dig. 

The Vulture-like Guin-ea Fowl 

W OULD you think it—that this is the 
handsomest bird of his kind? His head 
and neck have no feathers, but are cov¬ 
ered with blue skin. Then the feathers of the first 
row around his shoulders are long and narrow, 
and are white with blue margins. The main body 
of his feathers and his tail are black, very closely 
dotted with white spots, although the middle of his 
breast is cobalt-blue. Underneath, the feathers are 
purple spotted with white. So he is quite beautiful, 
even if he has been given the name of a bird of 
prey because, like the vulture’s, his head is bare of 
feathers. 

The Jackal 

T HE jackal lives in very hot countries, and, like the hy-e-na, eats the 
flesh of animals already killed. Both those animals are called 
scav-en-gers, because what is filth to human beings is food to them, 
so even they are of some service in the 
world. At night when the jackals are out 
hunting in packs, like the wolves, they howl 
a great deal, and it sounds very sad and 
frightful. When a jackal is taken while he 
is young, and tamed, he acts like a dog. He 
wags his tail, and fawns on his master, and 
lies down and rolls over. Tame ones eat 
fruit and vegetables, and enjoy them. 






[ 54 ] 


White Orpingtons 

D O not these fowl look like Sir and 
Lady Orpington, all in their state 
costume of white? They have been 
well called the most popular English fowl. 
Their shanks, toes, and beak are white, their 
eyes red-dish bay, and their face, comb, 
wattles, and the lobes of their ears are a 
bright red. All the rest of them is a pure 
white. They are tall fowl, and hold their 
heads high. Their feathers are very thick and their bodies round and plump. 
They are as useful as beautiful, for the hens lay many eggs. 

Golden Wyandottes 

T HESE look like common fowl, but 
their coloring is remarkable. Have 
you ever seen a bay horse? If you 
have, you know that the color “bay” is a sort 
of reddish brown or chestnut. The color of 
these fowl is mainly a golden bay mixed with 
a glossy greenish black. The neck and back 
of the rooster, which looks as if he had a fur 
robe laid over him, is this shade of gold. In 
each feather is a black stripe. The wings have a narrow black edging, and 
the tail is lustrous black. All the rest is golden bay. 

Silver Wyandottes 

T HIS English rooster and hen look very dig¬ 
nified as they wander in the meadow. Like 
their cousins, the Golden, these Silver Wy- 
an-dottes are wealthy in their plumage, which is pure 
white, not silver, with black lacing about the edges. 
The feathers in the cape about the neck have black 
centers with white stripes. This gives the fowl the 
look as if they were silver-gray covered with black 
lace. The head and back of the rooster is pure 
white, as is the head of the hen. Their combs and 
faces are bright red. Their wings make a bit of 
clear white near the glossy greenish black of their 
tails. 





[ 55 ] 


The Bantams 



T HE Bantams are very small fowl 
that weigh only about a fifth of 
what the same kind of fowl usually 
weigh. That is, they are small specimens 
of many different kinds. The first fowls 
that were so small came from Bantam on 
the island of Java, so all very small fowl 
were soon called bantams. Not only are 
there bantams of tame fowl, but of game 
fowl as well. These have all the bright colors in their plumage that the 
large fowls have. They are always ready for a fight, and are amusing. 


The Ham-burgs 



T HE Ham-burgs came from Holland, 
so they are Dutch, although they 
take their name from the city of 
Ham-burg, which is in what is now known 
as Germany. For more than three hundred 
years this kind of fowl has been known. 
They have a comb different from any other 
fowl. It is fleshy and rose-colored, and 
ends in a sharp point behind. Their ear¬ 
lobes are white. Their plumage is bay with green spangles over it. The 
hens are called the “everlasting layers,” because they give so many eggs. 


White Wyandottes 

AFTER all, no color makes fowl look quite, so dainty as pure white, 
/"% These seem to have stopped in the midst of their meal to have their 
pictures taken, for a turnip with its green top only partly eaten, lies 
on the ground between them. They have 
the kind of comb of the Wy-an-dottes, which 
is different from some others. It fits close 
to the head, and is called the “rose” comb 
because it is flattened instead of upright, and 
has small, rounded points all over it. It is 
oval and comes to a point in the rear. Their 
bodies are well-rounded, and altogether they 
are a trig little couple. 



[ 56 ] 


The Kudu 



T HIS large an-te-lope has long horns 
each of which twists spirally up, 
but which are spread wide apart at 
the top. His dark red-brown coat is marked 
with narrow white stripes, and there are 
white spots on his cheeks, throat, and legs. 
He lives in places in Africa where there is 
thick bush, whether hilly or flat. He likes 
the young and tender shoots of trees and 
shrubs, especially when, in the dry season, the grass has burned off, and 
the new grass is not yet grown. He has a fringe of long hair on his neck. 


The Hooded Cobra 


S TEP very far back, quite out of the way, for 
this snake is just about to strike. When he 
is excited, he lifts up his head in such a way 
that his neck spreads out flat, and that makes him 
look as if he had on a hood. This sort of snake 
is found only in Southern Asia and Africa. He is 
sometimes more than seven feet long. He lives 
mainly on other snakes smaller than himself. On 
the back of his head are strange markings, which 
look as if he had on a pair of spectacles, so he is 
also called the “spectacled” snake. His bite is 
poisonous and generally kills a man, though he 
rare-ly bites unless trodden upon. 



The Guib 


T 


HIS kind of an-te-lope is called “harnessed” because the strange 
markings in white along his back and sides make him look as if he 
wore a harness. He is larger than a goat, but not as large as a 
• > horse. The horns are about two feet long. 

These guibs are found in Africa, which is 
a regular men-ag-er-ie of animals, because 
it has so many different kinds. These are 
red-brown in color, so the white stripes 
show off very plainly. Guibs live in places 
where dense bushes come down to the edge 
of some stream or lake. There is a white 
line down the middle of the back also. 



[ 57 ] 





The Bush Buck 


T 


(HIS bush buck is, like his cousins, 
the kudu and the guib, a handsome 
X animal. He lives in deep forests, or 

lkYl ' m a bhiek belt trees by some stream, but 
Hyp always near the water. According to the 
kind he belongs to, he may be chestnut in 
color, or bluish gray, or grayish brown, or 
quite reddish, but always with more or less 
of the white markings. He is usually less 
His food is twigs, shrubs, and grass. They feed mainly 


a yard tall. 

ght, but may be seen in the early morning or in the late evening. 


The Kon-zi 

I F you take your geography and look upon the 
map of Africa for the Zam-be-si River and 
Lake Ny-a-sa, you will then find the place 
where the kon-zi lives. Perhaps he does not look 
so very different from some other animals, but if 
you look sharply at his horns, you will see that 
they are small and that, after spreading as they go 
up a ways, they come in together again. This is 
very unusual in horned animals. He is black in 
color with the under parts yellowish. He lives in 
well-wooded glades. His face looks strange and 
grave, for it has no distinct markings. 

The Le-chee An-te-lope 

T HESE are the an-te-lopes that dwell in swamps. Sometimes they 
stand up to their necks in water, and do not seem to mind it in the 
least. If they are pursued, even though the water is almost over 
their heads, they will leap and bound along, 
making a great splashing, instead of swim¬ 
ming. When, of course, the water is so deep 
that they can no longer find footing, they 
swim. They are black in color with some 
white. These are one of the kinds of animals 
discovered by David Livingstone, the great 
missionary to Africa, who brought back 
much new knowledge of that strange place. 




[58 ] 


The Poo-dle 

S EE this comical little poo-dle dog, and 
learn about it, and then decide whether 
you would rather have it for a pet 
than one of the great big dogs. There are 
many nice things to be said about this little 
poo-dle. He learns very quickly, for he is 
a bright, in-tel-li-gent dog. He is called the 
cleverest of all dogs. “But what makes him 
look so funny?” you ask. This is the rea¬ 
son. The poo-dle is either pure white or pure black usually, and has long 

Some masters clip the dog’s hair strangely. 

Dal-ma-tian 

H OW alert this doggy looks! One 
might almost think he was a pointer, 
for his nose and tail are stretched 
out in a straight line. He is all white ex¬ 
cept for little spots of black scattered over 
him. These spots are about the same size 
and as big as a small coin. Long ago when 
the people of England traveled only by 
coach or carriage, and sometimes took many 
valuable things along with them, dogs like this one used to trot along by 
the carriage. They served at night as a watch-dog, for they are faithful. 

The Great Dane 

T HIS dog is called “the great Dane” because he is the largest mas¬ 
tiff that was bred in Denmark. He is about three feet high at 
the shoulder. Would you like to meet him? You would not need 
to fear him, for though he is sometimes 
fierce, there is a great deal of his father, the 
greyhound, in him, and he makes a very 
faithful and powerful watch-dog. It was 
one of these dogs who once saved the life 
of his master, the poet Alexander Pope, 
when his faithless man servant was going 
to kill him. The poet woke to find the 
Dane holding the servant by the throat. 



silky hair all over his body. 


The 





[ 59 ] 


The Cocker Spaniel 

T HIS little dog has long black silky 
hair. That is why one likes to 
stroke it and make a pet of it. It 
likes to be petted, and so will make friends 
with you easily. Because it is a small dog 
and gentle, children like to play with it. See 
how long its body is, and how short its legs. 

It used to go out into the fields with its 
master when he was hunting game, and 
would run and get the birds its master shot. One kind, the setter, would 
even go into water and dive for the ducks that had been caught in nets. 



The Dachs-hund 

W HAT a funny-looking dog!” you 
are thinking as you look at this 
picture. You would think him 
even funnier, if you were to see him front 
to, for his head looks big, and his fore-legs 
are very short and are bent, and his fore¬ 
feet toe in. His body is so long and 
his legs so short that he cannot run fast, 
but those are just the things that make him 
good at digging out an animal that has burrowed in the earth, such as a 
fox or badger. They have a keen sense of smell, and are black and tan. 



The Russian Greyhound 

I S not this stately dog handsome? He is slender and tall and very 
graceful. He sometimes stands almost three feet high at the shoul¬ 
der. The Russians, who used to use him in hunting wolves, call him 
a “bor-zoi.” He may be black, yellow, or 
a pure white, or silver-gray. He has great 
speed, can endure much, and is very cour¬ 
ageous, so he is as noble and high-bred 
as he looks. No dog has greater beauty of 
form, and his gracefulness is added to by 
his shaggy coat and the fringe of long hair 
on his breast, his fore-legs, and his tail, and 
by his long, flat-sided body and sharp nose. 



[ 60 ] 


The Red-poll War-bler 

A LL through the Mis-sis-sip-pi Valley 
you will see him, and hear his faint 
L “Chip! Chip!” as he feeds. He 
goes north early in the spring, trying to 
avoid the real warm weather. He is called 
“red-poll,” which means “red-headed,” be¬ 
cause both the male and the female have a 
crown of chestnut-colored feathers. He is 
a little less than six inches long. He is 
brownish olive on top, with grayish brown on the lower back. Underneath 
he is yellow with some white. There is a yellow line over his eye. 

The Hawk 

H OW sleek and pretty he looks,—almost 
like a large songbird! Do not be deceived 
by his appearance, but notice his strong 
curved bill and his sharp claws, which are almost 
like an eagle’s talons. He is one of the smaller 
birds of prey, and can swoop down upon a 
chicken, a hare, or a pigeon and carry it off, to de¬ 
vour at his leisure. Yet he does some good things. 

He kills reptiles and animals and birds that would 
injure the farmer’s crops. His wings are short 
and his tail long, so he can change his course 
quickly when flying. His sight is keen, and he sees 
his prey while still high up above it. 

The Golden-headed War-bler 

N OT all of the light markings that you see in the picture of this war¬ 
bler are golden, but just the crown of the head and the bar on the 
wings. He is bluish gray above, with a little touch of green. He 
is white underneath, tinged with yellow. 
The markings on his tail feathers are white. 
Through the eye and throat there is a stripe 
of black, while the line over the eye, the 
sides of the head, and the chin are white. 
They are small and shy, and dart quickly 
into the thick underbrush where they live. 
Yet you can hear their “Zee! Zee! Zee!” 
and know them by that note. 





[61 ] 


The Grosbeak 

T HIS bird is named “grosbeak” be¬ 
cause his bill, or beak, is thick and 
heavy, or gross. That makes him 
look rather stupid, and anyway he is a shy 
and lonely bird, often sitting motionless for 
some moments. This bird’s plumage is 
deep blue, with dark blue and black on top, 
and wings and tail black. There is another 
kind of grosbeak which is bright yellow. 
This bird’s bill helps him to crack the hardest seeds and kernels, but he is 
fond of rice. He makes his nest in thickets and tall weeds by the road. 



The Bullfinch 


A S RED as a strawberry on cheeks, 
throat, and breast, this bird has a 
brown tail and wings, which are 
marked with black, white, and slate-color. 

Yet his somber back does not prevent your 
seeing him readily against the brown cones 
and evergreen needles of the pine and 
cedar, on the seeds of which he lives. Flocks 
of bullfinches go from place to place 

through the North, wherever the pine grows, coming and going suddenly. 
This bird makes a good pet, for it can learn to whistle various musical airs. 



The Trogon 

T HIS very beautiful bird will not stop to alight, for he catches the 
insects and even the berries upon which he feeds, while on the 
wing. He is a tropical bird, and this, the most beautiful of all 
* the trogons, is found in Central America. 

His head has a rounded crest of threadlike 
feathers. His plumage is green above, but 
his under parts from the chest down are 
vivid scarlet. The outer tail feathers are 
white, with black at the base, and are often 
more than a yard long. He is hardly as 
large as a turtle dove, and has a stout yel¬ 
low beak, and very bright eyes. 



[ 62 ] 


The Opossum 


T HIS small animal is a very distant 
cousin of the Kan-ga-roo, which is 
found only in Aus-tral-ia. Here in 
the United States, from New York to Cali¬ 
fornia, this opossum, or “ ’possum,” as it 
is often called, has been found. They 
are about as large as a common cat, and 
they live in trees, but come down to visit 
rice fields and swamps in the night for their 
food,—the insects, mice, birds, nuts, berries, and roots. When in danger, 
they pretend to be dead, but watch their chance to run away and escape. 



The Banded Mon-goose 

T HIS mon-goose is found in India, and is 
gray and black in color. It is really very 
fierce and bold, catching and killing snakes 
and rats very well. That is why it is often cared 
for, and does become very tame. Mon-gooses 
seem to like persons and some places, and to be 
played with and stroked. The story is told that a 
British officer in India once tamed one, and took 
it with him wherever he went, tucked away in his 
pocket. At length he brought it to England, then 
once left it for a short time, and it died, as if 
from grief. It had been his constant companion,— 
on horseback, in camp, and on shipboard. 

The White-tailed Mon-goose 

S EE how like a white brush this mon-goose’s white tail is! All his fur 
is long, but especially that on his tail. This kind of mon-goose is 
found in Africa. Mon-gooses are something like the civet cats and 
the genets, in that they hunt small animals. 

The mon-goose is very fond of snakes, and 
does not seem to be poisoned by the bite of 
even the worst of them, such as the cobra. 

When the mon-goose is aroused, every hair 
of his long fur stands straight out from his 
body, so that a snake could strike at him 
and yet hit only his fur. Then the mongoose 
suddenly bites the snake, killing him. 




[ 63 ] 


The Genet 

T HE genet is a kind of cat, but with a 
long body and a very long tail, and 
even shorter legs than the civet cat. 

That is why it can steal through the grass 
like a weasel, and catch its food. It eats 
snakes, birds, rats, and mice, and even eggs, 
fruits, and vegetables. It is really very 
pretty, with soft, short gray fur on which 
are black or brown spots. He has a black 
stripe down his back, and black rings on his tail. It is often tamed in 
Africa, where it is found, and kept in the house to kill rats, like a pet cat. 

The African Bush Pig 

W HAT a long snout that pig has!” 

you will say. Yet look at him 
closely, for he is thought to be 
the most handsome of the swine. That is 
not because of his shape, but of his color. 
He is a shiny brownish red, with a tinge of 
yellow to it. His forehead, ears, and legs 
are almost black, while his mane and cheeks 
are almost white, and his under parts whit¬ 
ish gray. These pigs go in large herds, and live in the moist forests and 
on the river banks of West Africa. They are small, not two feet tall. 




The White-bearded Gnu 

D ID you pronounce that right? It is spelled with a “g,” but it is said 
as if it were just “new.” This is the largest of the wild cattle of 
Africa. It looks like a buffalo in the face and head, like an an-te- 
lope in the legs, and its tail is that of a 
horse. It stands more than four and a half 
feet high at the shoulders. With their 
black hides, their white tails and beards 
make them look old, but, young or old, 
their tails are always white. They are very 
keen of sight, and very swift, and range in 
herds over the open plains near bodies of 
water. They have a playful disposition. 
















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